Limbo

Overview

Early concept art for Limbo.

Limbo is a platform game made by developer PLAYDEAD in Copenhagen, Denmark, with heavy emphasis on ambiance. The game is entirely monochromatic. There is no map, no HUD, no words or descriptions. There is also very little music throughout the game, with it only being heard in very few locations and maintaining the minimalist approach in its composition. The game also contains no loading screens as the game moves from chapter to chapter. It was released on July 21, 2010, the first game to appear on Xbox Live's Summer of Arcade 2010.

The story in Limbo is never properly detailed in the game. The only written source of the game's story can be found on the internet. In Limbo, a young boy is lost in the woods on a quest trying to find his lost sister. This is never stated in the game itself, there is no dialogue throughout the game, and there is no text to advance the plot.

The game uses a strange atmosphere instead of the usual narrative found in most games. Limbo's unspoken plot is open to interpretation, particularly involving the game's ending sequence.

Gameplay

A puzzle in Limbo.

Limbo is essentially a puzzle platformer. The game only uses two buttons in addition to movement controls, one to cause the boy to jump and one for contextual action. The young boy can grab on to ledges within reach and lower himself from platforms, climb ladders, push and pull objects and also swing from ropes found in the environment. Limbo features a lot of what developer Playdead describes as "trial and death" gameplay, requiring players to die frequently in order to fully understand the puzzles. Limbo has a generous checkpoint system with almost instantaneous reloading, usually resurrecting the boy back to just before he set off a trap or fell into a chasm, avoiding player frustration.

Limbo focuses mostly on physics-based puzzles. These puzzles involve the player pulling or pushing objects with true momentum, affecting fluids, and manipulating electromagnetism and gravity to move objects as well as the player. The game introduces a number of different types of puzzles as the game progresses. A frequent puzzle element involves sections of the game where the player loses the ability to stop or turn the player character around until they walk into a light source, turning previously benign areas and easily-avoidable hazards into obstacle courses and death traps.

Environments

Nice and safe in this huge, creepy forest.

Limbo's environments change as the protagonist journeys through a number of different locations throughout the game. The player plays straight through these environments without any pause or loading screens.

The Forest

The first environment of the game. The player first wakes up in the forest where they then continue on to cross a large river on a boat, battle against the giant spider and first encounter humans, or natives, in the Limbo. The Forest covers the first four chapters of the game. The Forest area has no industrial traits and differs quite a bit from locations in the game's later chapters.

Wasteland

The environment then begins to change when the player meets the village folk. In the background, broken old shacks and trees are seen. Objects that are used in the environment are broken objects like old crates. Crows are seen perched on the old buildings. The player encounters violence from the natives in this area of the game. They chase the player, trying to kill them using their darts. There are various wooden structures seen throughout this area, possibly built by the natives. Forestry from the opening enviroment can be seen dotted around the area. The "control worms", which force the player in walk in one direction only, make their first appearence in this area.

The game's areas begin to degrade.

The Caves

The wasteland-esque areas then move into the caves. The caves main theme is water. Many of the puzzles seen throughout the caves involve using water to advance and also trying to avoid drowning in said water. Many waterfalls can also be seen in the backgrounds of some areas in the caves. The caves are also the first area of the game where the player goes indoors. The industrial traits of the game begin to appear here. Cogs, levers and metal platforms are seen in the caves, replacing the old wooden structures of the wasteland area.

The Hotel

This is the first area of the game to involve a modern/urban theme. When players first enter this environment, they are greeted by a large "HOTEL" sign which must be navigated over to continue. The player then breaks into the hotel via a glass ceiling and continues on their journey. This environment contains puzzles involving elevators and electricity. After the player travels through the Hotel, they exit back outside for a shor time before entering the next enviroment, the Industrial Mill.

The "HOTEL"

Industrial Mill

This is the final environment in the game and takes up the most number of chapters and most of the latter parts of Limbo. There are a number of different concepts which appear here, navigating cogs, gravity puzzles, spinning rooms, avoiding machine gun fire and using electrical magnets. The Industrial Mill differs greatly from the Forest area at the beginning of the game. This area contains less of the strange atmosphere which defines the early part of the game. The Industrial Mill focuses more on puzzle-solving then building atmosphere. Once the player breaks free from the mill, by blasting their way through a glass window, they are greeted with the final moment of the game.

Secret Underground Level

A hidden area that can only be accessed after finishing the game and finding all of the other eggs, the majority of this area is entirely in darkness, forcing the player to navigate by sound alone. It is arguably the most difficult section of the game. It was added to the PS3 and PC releases, and is tied to the "Ding!" trophy/achievement. It has not been patched into the 360 release.

Ending

The ending to Limbo is quite abrupt and is open to much interpretation. After finishing the final puzzle, the boy is thrown through a pane of glass. On the other side, the player returns to the forest once again. After traveling for a moment, the player comes across a young girl outside of a tree-house, probably the boy's sister he is supposedly searching for. When the young girl sees the boy, she stands up. The game then abruptly ends and the credits begin to roll. When the credits end, the same scene is shown but with a decrepit tree-house and flies buzzing all around something on the ground; it's theorized to be the boy or even the boy and his sister's corpse.

The ending of the game has a number of interpretations that can be drawn from the proceedings. Since the game is named Limbo, it is believed that the game's dream-like world is the religious idea of limbo. It is believed by some that the boy completes his journey by returning to the place where he once started; therefore playing through them again shows how his world is just a never-ending cycle, like limbo itself. Some believe that the two children have already died and that meeting each other in the end seals their fate and they continue to the afterlife. A number of theories exist on the matter and the developers of Limbo have said nothing officially on the subject of the ending.

Reception

Limbo has received very positive critical acclaim. Reviewers applauded the game's graphical and audio presentation as they have not been seen in many games before. Limbo's "noir" qualities are also a common plus point for many reviewers. Many reviewers praised the game's lack of a proper narrative and that it is shrouded in mystery, but some have found this lack of narrative unappealing. A common criticism made on message boards and in reviews was due to a perceived lack of value for the initial $15 asking price. Complaints were levied against the linearity of the title, the short length (most players are able to complete it in about three hours), and the lack of replay value endemic to puzzle platformers. Some reviews noted the game's second half abandoned the initial focus on ambiance and organic placement of game elements in favor of the introduction of new mechanics and disjointed puzzle areas, leaving the player with an unoriginal yet still technically well-executed platformer. Limbo has scores of 90% and 92% on GameRankings and Metacrtic respectively. Brad Shoemaker awarded the game a maximum five stars and included it in his game of the year list.

Avatar Awards

Limbo has 2 avatar awards to unlock.

• White Logo Limbo T-Shirt - Earn your first achievement
• A Creature from Limbo (prop) - Complete the game

Acclaim

• Limbo was awarded the "Excellence in Visual Arts" and "Technical Excellence" awards at the 2010 Independent Games Festival. The game currently holds an average score of 90 on Metacritic.
• Limbo has also won 3 Milthons at the 2010 European Games Awards including the one for Game of the Year.

PC System Requirements

• Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, 7
• Processor: 2 GHz
• RAM Memory: 512MB
• Hard Disk Space: 150MB
• Video Card: 5 years or younger. Integrated graphics and very low budget cards may not work. Shader Model 3.0 required
• DirectX®: 9.0c